Texas Tech Football Preseason Practice 4 Recap

Head coach Kliff Kingsbury did address the media today before Saturday’s open scrimmage which starts at 3:00 p.m. I am curious as to who will be STP’s official correspondent. Anyway, here’s a non-transcript of Kingsbury:

Kliff Kingsbury:

. . . [RB Desmond Nisby] He’s a big physical presence, runs tough, just have to get him acclimated to our system to play in our system, he’s worked hard and we have 3 1/2 weeks to get him ready to go.

. . . [S Trevor Walker] I like what I’ve seen, he’s a veteran, played in a great system at Washington where they are well coached, gets people lined up so that’s comforting to have veteran guy.

. . . [DL Jesse Brown] Missed the first couple of days with a hamstring but he’s been out here the last two days, he’s not very tall in stature but plays hard and tough, played some meaningful snaps at A&M, we like what we see, need a bunch of bodies in our conference and hopefully he can become one of those.

. . . [Nic Shimonek’s progress] He’s been sharp, he knows the system, he has a veteran group of wideouts, everybody knows where to go, it’s been pretty smooth thus far.

. . . [Jett Duffey getting back next week] Just the rhythm in the pocket, I know he’s been working like crazy back home, just feeling in the pocket and we’ll have a few weeks to get him going and feel good about getting him

. . . [on the state of practices] It’s a little bit longer, we’ve gone some hard days and mixing in some lighter days, we don’t have preseason games, so just trying to keep some things fresh and mixing it up.

We also get about 0:26 of highlights.

A-J Media’s Don Williams profiles new Australian punter Dominic Panazzolo, who should be able to kick with either his right or left foot, depending on the situation:

The 6-foot-5, 215-pound newcomer from Adelaide, South Australia, will be the program’s first almost exclusively rugby-style punter. Oh, the Red Raiders have had a punter sprint out every now and then. Panazzolo prefers to do it every time. And because he can kick with either foot, he can roll out in either direction.

Last year when he played for Snow College, Panazzolo said, he rolled left or rolled right before unleashing his punts nearly 100 percent of the time.

“Coach Rob and I are devising some plays which make me roll out on my left and roll out on my right,” Panazzolo said, referring to his collaboration with special teams coach Joe Robinson. “You’ll probably mostly see the right foot, but bring out the left to surprise them a bit, I think.”

Spokesman’s Jim Allen is with Eastern Washington as they opened practice and it was incredibly hot for them, 92 in the shade, but aside from that, the Eagles are looking to be a physical team:

Meanwhile, the Eagles were operating at a high tempo despite the heat. Predecessor Beau Baldwin relied mostly on morning practices, but Best figures the extra sweat will pay off on Sept. 2, when the Eagles open the season deep in the heart of Texas against Texas Tech.

It’s also in keeping with a more physical approach that also got the approval of All-American quarterback Gage Gubrud, who said he’s completely bought into Best’s “start physical, stay physical” mantra that began in the spring.

A-J Media’s Don Williams has a notebook of items, including the re-worked inside receiver position, which lost Ian Sadler to retirement, Tony Brown to a transfer to Colorado, Jonathan Giles to a transfer to LSU and Zach Austin to a season ending injury before the year started:

“Luckily at that position we have a lot of talented players,” Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said. “But at Y, we lost Ian and Tony and Giles and Zach in less than a year, which, at one position, is pretty incredible for that to happen.

“We have enough good players at wideout we can move some bodies and be very good in our three-deep. So yeah, you would rather have not wasted reps on those guys in the spring, but it’s just part of the game.”

New to the inside receivers room are senior Ja’Deion High, junior JoJo Robinson and freshman Xavier Martin. Coaches swapped High with De’Quan Bowman, moving High inside and Bowman outside to flanker. Robinson, who last played at Arkansas in 2015, transferred in from Independence (Kan.) Community College. Martin is making a conversion after being a quarterback last season at Cibolo Steele and through spring practice with Tech.